An unusual formation of diarylmethane scaffolds from 4-(halomethyl)cyclohex-2-enone derivatives

A facile and efficient base promoted one-pot dimerization of halo cyclohexene derivatives leading to a de novo synthesis of biologically important diarylmethane and diarylmethanone derivatives is reported. A plausible mechanism for the unexpected formation of the title compounds involves dehydrohalogenation, 1,6-conjugate addition, subsequent aromatization through C–C bond cleavage and dehydrohalogenation.

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